E-mail marketing firm ExactTarget has a new researcher

ExactTarget, which sells e-mail marketing technology and services to such retailers as Best Buy Co. Inc. and The Home Depot Inc., has hired Chad White as principal of marketing research.

White, who used to work as the research director for Responsys Inc., says he will continue to keep track of e-mail marketing trends among retailers. “I’ll be monitoring e-mail activity among a variety of non-retailers as well, which should make for some insightful comparisons,” he says.

ExactTarget serves 36 retailers in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide and 24 in the Second 500. Responsys serves 33 retailers in the Top 500 and one in the Second 500. Best Buy is No. 11 in the Top 500, while Home Depot is No. 42.

White worked at Responsys from December 2009 until December 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before that, he managed The Retail Email Blog, which he founded in 2006 to keep track of promotional e-mails sent by U.S. online retailers. Responsys bought the blog in 2011, though White kept running the blog until he left the company.

Last November, ExactTarget bought iGoDigital and Pardot LLC for their respective technology and expertise in personalized and business-to-business marketing.